45 excellence classes and enhanced ability groups

ORT-Israel is the largest education network in Israel, comprised of 100 schools including 87 middle schools. ORT and the Trump Foundation have collaborated in recent years on the goal of raising the rate of five-unit graduates in mathematics from 12% in 2016 to an expected rate of 18% in 2021. As part of this effort, nine teacher leaders were trained to provide instructional coaching to teachers and to assist the schools’ mathematics department heads to lead school-based professional learning communities.

Now the focus is moving to middle schools. During the COVID-19 crisis, ORT decided to deepen its direct involvement in its middle schools. Typically, the Ministry of Education runs middle schools in Israel, even within a school network. However, during the crisis, as the Ministry was unable to supervise schools from afar, the network stepped in to assist. The network now wishes to scale up its involvement in middle schools, by pushing them to emphasize the study of mathematics and the sciences at higher levels.

In ORT’s middle schools, 20% (about 2,200 students) of ninth graders are currently studying in excellence classes. An additional 2,800 students study in high ability groups in mathematics. In high school, 28% of the tenth graders choose to study in the five-unit track, however, only 18% complete the course. ORT assumes that students in the high ability groups lack high-order mathematical thinking skills and recognizes that many more students would be able to study at higher levels, if challenged and supported to do so.

Therefore, the network has set a goal of having at least 3,300 ninth grade students (30%) graduate excellence classes in mathematics in middle school by 2024. To do so, the network plans to open new excellence classes in 45 schools. In both eighth and ninth grades, each such class will receive two additional study hours of applied mathematics. Some of these classes will operate as new homeroom classes and others as enhanced ability groups. The content will be selected from the arsenal of assignments that is currently being developed by academic institutions, and aligned with proficiency levels 5-6 of the PISA mathematics framework.

To support the 90 teachers who will teach the new materials, the nine teacher leaders, trained within the framework of the foundation and ORT’s previous partnership, will lead professional learning communities with the teachers involved. They will also provide individual instructional coaching for teachers at a scope of one day per week at each school. Likewise, 45 mathematics school department heads will attend a designated course at the Davidson Institute to train them in coaching the teachers in how to implement the new content in their classes.

In order to create a support network in schools for this effort, ORT will create a special forum for the 45 school principals. An organizational consultant will coach them individually for three hours every month. In addition, ORT will organize an annual two-day seminar for the teachers and school principals, to become more familiar with the new content and prepare for the school year.

The success of the program will be measured with a diagnostic tool prepared by CET, with the goal of at least 75% of the students successfully meeting the PISA framework’s proficiency levels 5-6.

* The text  above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 437